Pickups Nut And Bridge For A Twelve String.

[correl]

After researching for hours a day, Ive decided to take on a fairly ambitious project. A double neck 12/6 string guitar. Both set in necks. My only concern is Pickups. Am I going to need special pickups for a twelve string, Will I need two outputs, obviously two selectors. Two outputs seems the easyiest way to go seeing as this is my first two necked guitar. I was thinking of just building it as two seperate guitars that share the same body, but then I realised Id have top switch out chords. Any assistence on the subject will be greatly appreciated.

[erikbojerik]

Welcome to PG

You don't need two outputs for a doubleneck (unless you want separate outputs for some reason). A standard 3-way shorty toggle switch (like on Les Paul's) can be used to switch between the necks (12 on, both on, 6 on). I did this on a doubleneck strat that I finished just a few months ago...one master volume, one master tone, and a 3-way toggle. To see it click here.

[correl]

Thanks for the welcomes, Just out of curiosity, that wouldnt mean I could only have one pickup or HB on each neck would it? Im looking at a single coil pickup and a hb on both necks.

[Pibrocher]

The single-coil and humbucker combination might be an interesting way to go with the twelve string. Seems to me like the single-coil will really birng those overtone strings to life in the mix. Making it that much brighter. Used in conjunction with the humbucker in the neck i think it will really give you the full range of sounds that a 12-string guitar is capable of. I don't think you will have problems with pickup range, if you know what i mean. I ran into this situation with my 8-string bass, i wanted a pickup birhgt enough to do the over-tone strings some justice since bass pickups are geared for low-end. I also ended up using an active pre-amp to boost the highs.

The 6-string is gonna sound more like you would expect it to with traditional pickup combinations.

[thedoctor]

Try a Hot Rail at the bridge for the 12-string. Makes every string shine but needs an aggressive tone control circuit!

[blackburncustomguitars]

Hi!

I have gone several different ways with pickups on electric 12s that I've made. I've used Seymour Duncan Jazz humbuckers to good effect. My best success has been to contact Pete Biltoft, who will make any sized pickups for you, voiced to your woods, etc., with a blade pole so there is no fall-off when bending. The P-90 size that fits in a humb rout is fantastic!

Dave

After researching for hours a day, Ive decided to take on a fairly ambitious project. A double neck 12/6 string guitar. Both set in necks. My only concern is Pickups. Am I going to need special pickups for a twelve string, Will I need two outputs, obviously two selectors. Two outputs seems the easyiest way to go seeing as this is my first two necked guitar. I was thinking of just building it as two seperate guitars that share the same body, but then I realised Id have top switch out chords. Any assistence on the subject will be greatly appreciated.

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[stiggz]

hi

for the nut, i just went down to the local music shop, had them make a nut with a slightly wider string spacing to allow for the octave strings. as for the bridge, i talked to eric, about his 12 bridge(on his double neck) and modified a TOM in a similar way, i did that purely to avoid drilling holes all the way through the body for ferrules ect, and the hardtail 12 bridges look crap-ish

[erikbojerik]

As for switches, you will need at least two. One for pickups and one for necks. Use the 3-way shorty toggle for the necks.

For the pickups it will be more challenging; if you want standard 3-way switching (neck, neck+bridge, bridge) then what you'd want is a double-sided 3-way but I'm not sure if such a thing exists (the 3-way version of StewMac's 5-way strat superswitch). Anyone? Buehler?

If you can't find a double-sided 3-way then you'll likely need separate pickup select switches for each neck. Make sure you decide on all of this before you do ANY routing of the body for pickups and wire channels.